My Monthly Report – March 2010

For those of you who don’t already know, each month I write a detailed report about my online income, and I make sure to include the things I’ve done and learned during the previous month that may have an impact on my earnings. I do this not only to help me keep track of how my online businesses are doing, but also to help you understand what to do (and what not to do) if you want to be successful online. Again, I’m not a millionaire and all of this didn’t happen overnight, but I am living and supporting my family purely off of income made online. A dream come true – yes. A dream out of reach for you? I say no way.

I hope you enjoy this month’s report.

Important Going-Ons in March

March was a very productive month. It was primarily dedicated to creating 8 new iPhone apps, each of which become a possible new income stream for the future. Our iPhone app business has been seeing a nice sized increase in our earnings the past few months, which has given us the energy and confidence to invest back into the business and create a whole line of brand new applications.

The idea creation and development process, at least for me, is a lot of fun. However, it’s tough because money is being spent (we outsource the development of our apps) and there’s no such thing as an immediate return. That’s how it is with any business, especially when creating passive income streams – because it’s all about working hard now, and reaping the benefits later. Being patient and having confidence in yourself before you get to “later” can be tough. But, without hard work and determination, you’ll never get there.

Anyways, we’ve got a lot of potential ahead of us, and we’re hoping that one or two of these apps make it to the top of the charts, which could potentially give all of our other apps a boost too.

Right now, we’ve got 3 completed apps, 4 that are in development and 1 that’s just getting underway. Since none of them are live yet, I’ll wait to reveal exactly what they are and what they do.

I can’t wait to see what happens. All should be live by the end of next month.

Green Exam Academy

As I mentioned in my previous monthly income report, I was going to run some split tests between my existing sales page and an “Amazon.com Style” sales page to see which converted better.

The thinking behind this experiment is that a lot of businesses have product pages that imitate Amazon’s style, using the same buttons, layout and pricing strategies, because consumers are supposedly more comfortable purchasing things online in the Amazon style, which was familiar to them.

Before I ran the experiment, I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m very familiar with the Amazon style layout and can see why other businesses have adapted a similar style, however my existing sales page just seems to do well for some reason, even though it’s not the prettiest thing to look at.

To give you an idea of the pages that I ran against each other, here a snippet of the original:

And here’s a part of the “Amazon-Style” page:

And so, what were the results?

Well, I told myself that I would keep this experiment going the entire month to get the most data possible, but I caved in and let it run for only a couple of days, because it was apparent what the outcome would have been:

Yes, yes – I know I shouldn’t base decisions off of a sample size of about 500 visitors, but I was confident enough with the data to pull the experiment and just continue with the original design.

There are a few important things that we can learn from this:

The design of your page absolutely matters.

Just because you’re copying a proven model doesn’t mean that it will work better for you and your business or product.

The only way to know if one page design is better than an other is to test. Test test test!

For those of you who would like to know more about how to run these kinds of split tests on your blog or website (for any metric: sales, subscribers, click-throughs, etc.) you can read this post about Google Optimizer that I wrote way back in December of 2008. All of it is still useful for you today.

Smart Passive Income

SPI has been on a fantastic ride as it continues to grow and expand, and I have each and every one of you to thank for that.

Seriously. Thank you.

Per request, here are some brief statistics for the month of March for SPI:

Visitors: 29,139

Pageviews: 71,267

RSS Subscribers: ~5,600 total (+715 New Subscribers)

Top Traffic Sources:

Ok – I think it’s time for the monthly income breakdown…

Income Breakdown

Please note that these are figures from reports from each individual company for the previous month. It does not necessarily reflect the actual payment which, for some of the companies listed below, come 30 to 60 days later because of potential refunds.

GreenExamAcademy.com Product Sales:

Ebook Only: $958.40

Audio Only: $89.85

Ebook + Audio Package: $1,033.85

Total: $2,080.20

Last Month: $2,961.00

Difference: -$880.80

eHow Earnings:

Total: $189.05

Last Month: $145.36

Difference: +$43.69

Affiliate Earnings:

Green Exam Academy: $2,341.21

Bluehost.com: $715.00

Amazon Associates: $39.28

Aweber: $99.24

LegalZoom: $22.35

Other Online Courses & Programs: $2024.75

Total: $5,241.83

Last Month: $4,552.12

Difference: +$689.71

iPhone Applications:

Total: $1,914.30

Last Month: $2,435.90

Difference: -$512.60

Gross Total in March: $9,425.38

Last Month: $10,114.38

Difference: -$689.00

This was the first month that I broke down my affiliate earnings for you, because I seem to get a lot of questions about exactly where that income comes from. For the “other online courses & programs”, it’s primarily from the affiliate program of the Internet Business Mastery Academy, which just happens to be recurring monthly. It’s dependable because the program is that good, and it keeps people in for a long time. I think I’ve been a member for almost 2 years now!

Anyways, a few notables from my income this month:

Sales are slowing down on my own personal products on Green Exam Academy. Again, it’s probably partly due to the entrance of study guides from the actual company that administers the exam as well as other players in the market. Also, the “rush” to get certified for the exam is not nearly as high as it was before, but I’ll do my best to keep up in the ever changing market. Nothing good lasts forever, which is why companies in all genres expand their brands, come out with new products, and diversify.

eHow still suprises me. Without touching my account for almost a year now, I’m still seeing between $150-200 a month come in as a result. It may not seem like a lot, but for doing nothing, an extra $200 a month is huge.

My commission from Bluehost.com was awesome, mainly because I incorporated an affiliate link subtly into a few blog posts in March. As you probably can tell, I don’t “force” or push any products that often (if at all), yet I’m still able to generate a decent sized income as a result. I don’t turn anyone off from aggressive sales pitches, and I’m still able to keep you as a reader. You don’t have to be a salesman to sell things online.

Things I Learned in March

I’ve already covered a lot of what I learned in March into this post already, so I only have one more thing to add.

Because I have specific hours that are for work and work only, I’m able to really focus on work at that time, and really focus on my family during the other times of the day. I’m no longer constantly thinking about my business during the night, and no longer am I tempted to just go into my office and work when I probably should be spending time with my family.

It’s been a great month, being able to watch my son turn 3 months old and witness his first “coos” and giggles, and at the same time still make a lot of progress on potential passive income streams.

Remember what’s important to you, and make sure you do what you can to make it happen. That’s really what this is all about.

Thanks for your time today, and here’s to a safe, healthy, fun and profitable April for all of us.

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Awesome stuff, Pat. Always inspiring to see specific numbers. I had no idea IBM was recurring. I’ve listened to a few of their audios and they are one of the best I’ve come across.

Keep rocking!

Pat

Can’t agree with you more. Thanks Henri, and thanks again for contributing as a guest writer in March for SPI. Cheers!

http://www.wordplaywithvinay.com Vinay

Always love the monthly reports Pat! Great to see someone who actually puts their earnings out there in the “secretive online marketing industry”.

Keep up the good work!

Pat

Thanks Vinay! I appreciate it!

http://ascenttofreedom.wordpress.com DJ Wetzel

Wow,

i cannot believe another month has gone by already, but it is once again inspiration to see how you are killing it!

I am definitely planning on joining IBM. Everyone I know of keeps talking about how awesome it is, and it seems like their affiliate program is killer as well.

Thanks again Pat!

Pat

They definitely have a good affiliate program, so once you get in, you can easily make up the costs of your membership by referring just a couple of other people too. Good stuff! Hope to see you there!

http://www.youngprepro.com Onibalusi Bamidele

Hi Pat,
This is really a great achievement in terms of earnings and traffic, I wish you more success.
Thanks.

Pat

Thanks Onibalusi! I really appreciate it! All the best to you too!

http:///www.thewisebuck.com Mike

Hi Pat,
Thanks for sharing these results. This is very helpful to see as it gives me a lot of ideas. A few things that pop out:
Lifehacker Traffic – this proves the power of guest posting.
Bluehost – almost “a grand” from a host affiliate is excellent;would have never guessed.
Organic SEO – whatever you’re doing is working as this is one of your top traffic sources. The techniques from the SEO post by Glenn A. seems to work well! Is best to be able to generate your own traffic.

Congrats, Mike

Pat

Thanks Mike. Actually, the LifeHacker article wasn’t actually a guest post. A writer for the site just read one of my articles, and wrote their own about it that pointed back to mine. Good things happen when you write good content, even when you’re not trying to sometimes.

Cheers Mike!

http://www.MemberCon.com Tim Bourquin

Nice work, Pat. I like the fact that you are monitoring sales of your products closely and realize that diversity is key.

It’s an important point for any online business owner.

Pat

Diversity is key, indeed. It’s hard to diverse when you’re starting out, because you want to take things one at a time, but with passive income, once one thing gets rolling, you have the time to create more income streams, for sure.

http://www.eventualmillionaire.com/blog Jaime

Thanks for breaking down the affiliates. I had always wondered what exactly that was since it makes up a fair amount of your income.

You are a great IBM success story! Thanks for inspiring so many others.

Pat

Thanks Jaime! I owe a lot of my success to Sterling and Jay from IBM.

http://www.profitaddiction.com Profit Addiction

I love income posts, they are so inspirational. Thanks again, and continue on your dream!

Pat

Thanks PA, same to you!

http://www.theskooloflife.com Srinivas Rao

Good stuff Pat. I’ve noticed that just going through this monthly review seems to set you on the path to making more than you ever were before. It’s a great way to get feedback, review goals and learn a bit about what works and what doesn’t.

Pat

Yup! That’s exactly why I spend the time to write these posts every month. It kind of sets me up for the next, and makes me want to make sure my numbers are generally the same, if not climbing higher. Cheers, and thanks again for the BlogCastFM interview! It was a pleasure!

http://www.moneycrush.com Jackie

Boy the months really fly by. Everytime I read one of your monthly reports I get inspired all over again to keep chipping away at my own endeavor. Thanks as always for all the great info, and the even more detailed report this month.

Pat

Yes Jackie, time TOTALLY flies by, it’s ridiculous! Anyways, I’m glad I can continue to inspire you! If you ever need anything, please let me know and I’ll do what I can to help. Cheers!

http://experimentsinpassiveincome.com Moon Hussain

Hey Pat,

Solid earnings, that’s awesome. Can I ask from the time you were laid off…. how long did it take you to establish decent earnings online?

Pat

Well, I had my blog going before I got laid off, but after, when I started writing my eBook, it took about 2 and a half months before I saw my first month of decent earnings.

http://AdultescentLiving.com Nell

Awesome! Out of all the numbers and advice, I think your final points are the most important. “Remember what’s important to you, and make sure you do what you can to make it happen.” Great post as always and keep up the good work!

Pat

Thanks Nell! I appreciate your kind words!

Travis

Just out of curiosity, are you actively trying to increase your traffic to Green Exam Academy? Double the traffic/double your earnings. A little SEO could go a loooong way. You’ve got some stiff competition with the company itself as a competitor but the not much else to worry about. Your site looks like it could be a lot more optimized, your title, more backlinks, etc. Maybe add a free forum to increase traffic. Your site converts so well, why not focus on climbing the SERPS or simply getting more traffic. How about getting another of your pages to the first page of Google… that will give you a double listing and more traffic. Not as hard to do as it sounds. You just need to get a second page to at least the #10 position then Google automatically places it just under your higher ranking on that page- You’d have positions #6 and #7 very easily. More traffic. No doubt you could double your earnings by doubling your traffic and there are a lot of ways to do that – even if you’re not big on seo. What about split testing the “Study Guides” page… make that your sales page instead of making them click again to get to the landing page. Or including a promo of your study guide right in the center of your homepage. Your banner up top could be tested as well- seems to blend in a little too well in my humble opinion. Just a few ideas to increase conversion for the traffic you’ve already got. Sorry for the length here… just rambling/throwing out ideas. I love your site. Thanks for the in-depth peak into your business. You’re obviously very good at what you do. Have a great April.

Travis

FYI.. in case anyone else is interested in getting more traffic to their site….How to get a second “indented” page of your website on the first page of Google: http://www.stomperblog.com/doubletraffic/ This is a killer video that walks you through how to do it. Easy stuff. I hope the link is alright. It’s not my site or anything.

Pat

Travis – honestly, I’m not actively trying to get more traffic. And seriously, SHAME ON ME. Your advice is REALLY helpful, and I will take it seriously. The video you linked to below is great, although I do already have double indented listings in most of my target keywords already, but I can definitely climb with them!

No need to apologize for the length, it’s exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks for the reality check, Travis.

http://www.realestatecareermentor.com Marty Green

Love these reports Pat. They are great for keeping me pushing forward every day. If I could get to where you are, that would be huge for me. “One day at a time”, is how I take it. I try to do at least 1 thing to make my biz better then yesterday.

Thank you and congrats on another great month!

Pat

One day at a time indeed. One day at a time, one project at a time, one task at a time.

Thanks Marty, and I’m sure with your attitude you’ll get to where you want to be very soon, if you aren’t there already. Cheers!

DOH! I think deserves a blog post. I’d love to hear what everyone else’s thoughts are. Thanks for the heads up Howie, although I did get an email in my inbox this morning from eHow about the same thing. Interesting stuff…

http://www.personalfinancenotebook.com Patrenia

Hey Pat,

Thanks for continuing to provide a monthly report. I still think it’s awesome that you have been able to create a lucrative business for yourself. You are a great inspiration!

Pat

Thanks Patrenia! I hope besides the monthly earnings I’m posting some helpful content and inspiration for people too! Thanks!

http://www.freemanlegacyllc.com Ms. Freeman

Great work.

Now with the iPad out there will be even more folks wanting Apps, your business will hopefully benefit from that.

http://www.ZenithPropertySolutions.com Owen McGab Enaohwo

@Pat, speaking of apps can you recommend a good developer of Apple and/or Droid Apps?

Pat

@Owen – there are a LOT of fantastic developers on Elance.com. I’ve worked with about 5 different ones, and most of them always impress. Since you have experience with VAs, I’m sure working and communicating with them properly will not be a problem

Pat

Hopefully, but we’ll see. Some of the apps require shaking and taking photos, which aren’t really suitable or possible yet on the iPad. It does open up a new market though, for sure!

Elias

Thanks Pat. It looks like affiliate earnings is going pretty good. Have you heard any news about ehow doing some scams with its members?

greetings!

Pat

I’ve heard some rumblings, but I wouldn’t call them “scams”. Instead, I would call them really unfortunate situations. I think i’ll be writing about this on Wednesday.

Dude, this is awesome! I really can’t wait to start making an income online. I absolutely love how you have so willingly shared this information with everyone. A love spreading entrepreneur!

Pat

Thanks Alex! Keep up the hard work, and you will start making an income online. There’s no “tricks” really, it’s just hard work, determination and taking action!

http://www.makemoneyontheinternet.com Chris Guthrie

Hey Pat,

Nice report, I still think you should experiment with your landing page though. If the original worked well try making more subtle changes to the design because the differences between the two you showed were quite drastic so it’s near impossible to tell which aspect of the changes helped / hindered the sales flow.

that’s my 2 cents

Pat

Chris – you’re absolutely right. I’m always conducting tests actually (have been since the beginning), but I just wanted to highlight this particular one because the “amazon style sales page” was something a lot of people were interested in.

There is definitely no end to optimization! Thanks Chris, I’ll be setting up another test very very soon.

chad

Great earnings, I am working hard to find my spot in online earnings and reading your blog only makes me work harder..

Pat

Hey Chad! I think there’s a spot for everyone, it just takes time to find it. Keep working hard like you are, and you’ll eventually get there. All the best to you!

http://supersonicfreedom.net Sonicsuns

If I can get to even 20% of where you are, I’ll be really happy.

Pat

Hey SonicSuns! Keep working hard and providing good, useful content to people, and you can easily get there!

Pat

Yeah, it was a nice surprise to see one of my articles featured on one of the top blogs in the world! It was a good spike in traffic, hehe.

Thanks for the comments, as always, Ken!

http://www.TropicalMBA.com Dan

Damn Pat this post is on fire, I’ve been emailing it around. Niiiice. Love that you’ve pitted two top approaches. Would be interesting to see split tests on different text headlines. Loove it!

Pat

Thanks for sharing it, Dan! I’ll setup a few split tests for headlines right now! Hehe.

Also, if memory serves me correctly, you currently have 2-3 Apps produced. Would you breakdown your month’s revenue per app?

Thanks again for your excellent information.

Sean

Pat

Hey Sean,

Yes, I would say that about 50% are from the Green Exam Academy stuff, both with my own products and products that I am an affiliate for.

For iPhone apps, we have 3 apps. BabyMaker is making about 50%, Shake Shake Pop about 45%, and iCaption Mobile about 5%. Hopefully now, there will be a lot more income streams with the new apps that we have on deck.

http://www.bummoneymaker.com Sean

Thanks Pat.

I’m about to go the apps route and was curious.

It also seems that a big player is to find a strong demand for a product and create it in multi-media style…

You are truly an inspiration.

Howie

Launched my product today, Pat…

First sale within minutes….

How did you feel when you made your very first sale?

Even if I go on to sell thousands, I’ll never forget this first sale….

Pat

Dude. Congratulations, Howie! You deserve it!

I remember my very first sale like I remember my first kiss…lol.

Seriously though, great job with everything. I’m really proud of you.

http://evengrounds.com/blog Julius

I especially like the point you made about proven models and how they don’t always work well for every blog or site.

Pat

Definitely a point that everyone should understand. Thanks Julius!

http://tenaciousme3.wordpress.com/ Laura Lee Bloor

Wow, thank you so much for this, Pat. I’m new to your site and all of your detailed information is tremendously helpful. Have you done other posts about your experience creating iPhone apps? I would love to know more about how you do that.

Pat

Hi Laura! Thanks for stopping by the site, and I’m glad you find the information helpful.

I’ve done minimal posts about my iPhone apps and the whole process, but I may have something lined up for the future to help out!

Thanks, and all the best to you!

http://www.residualsandroyalties.com Michael-John Wolfe

Nice Job Pat! Question for you – do you design your own sites? Like the landing pages, etc? This is one of my weaknesses and I may need to hire someone to help me, but I cannot afford to spend big bucks on a website builder/designer. If you do hire someone, like a freelancer – would you mind sharing thier contact info with me? I may have some work for him/her! If you build them yourself, what program do you use? Thanks!

Michael-John Wolfe
Residuals and Royalties

Pat

Thanks Michael-John! And thanks again for your guest post the other week. Fantastic, inspiring stuff!

As far as designing my own sites, I mainly do it all on my own. If I don’t know how to code something, then I send that out to a VA, but the design I usually sketchup on my own.

When I code, I just do it all in WordPress. I don’t use dreamweaver, frontpage or anything like that.

Let me know if you have any follow up questions. Thanks!

http://www.rodolforodarte.com Rudy

Congrats on another awesome month. A lot of us look to you for inspiration and guidance! Keep the awesome content coming!

http://mindmaps.tv Baro @MindMaps.tv

You’re very generous with sharing your info. The ex numbers crunchers amongst us would probably join me in wondering what your back-of-envelop financial analytics might look like – example ROI and ROE? Curious to know which core activities generate the highest return on your labor and/or resource expenditures….looks like ehow was/is a great residual income earner…

http://master-dayton.blogspot.com Master Dayton

That’s a really amazing month, and way ahead of where I am at this point in the game, but fortunately for me I’m simply too stubborn to fail. I really admire the hard work you obviously put into this blog and into your passive income, and appreciate how open you are about breaking it down for anyone who happens by. Thanks again for the excellent blog post on your March earnings, and I hope April turns out even better.

http://www.nursebeware.blogspot.com Mele

I was surfing on passive income when I found your site. I love your site as I am investigating on how to make money online. In fact my niece and I have a race on who can make the most money. I just started blogging adding Adsense, joining affiliate programs etc. Have made so far $31.90 from Adsense ads. I was thrilled at that. I know nothing to brag about but as a newcomer I am happy that I am on the right track. Thank you very much for being open about how and what you are doing.

http://www.jewelry-secrets.com Richard Scott

Nothing like a good ole income report to whip us back into shape. Pat, I can’t wait to see what your new apps are going to be. Any hints? Have you thought about doing one about Passive Income?

http://thegreatofficeescape.com Mike

Wow – this is amazing stuff! Seeing it all broken down by category is fascinating and helpful to your many readers. If I put my March numbers up they would look something like this:

Wow, you have been a very busy man as I have too. Reason why I haven’t been commenting. Good to see everything going well. I have gotten my income to average $800 a month. Up from averaging around $200 a month.

http://www.wp-handyhints.com Jacob

Nice work Pat. I am running a blog almost for 3 months now. I had affiliations from Comission Juctions but they are big scammers. Do not pay commissions even i have made comission over $100 a month. Pat can you please recommend some good affiliation programs?
All the best

http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/blog/ InfoGuy

Hey Pat – I’ve also noticed on my blog that embedding contextual resource mentions in blog posts usually ends up with some pretty sweet results. Your comment about contextual links to hosting is spot on! Thanks for sharing.

Jeff

http://smallbizkidz.blogspot.com/ Jaime Lim

Pat,
Today I subscribed to your E-Book Guide. Thank you so much for the quick response. Also, I am so impressed with your monthly report for March. For these past year and a half, I have always asked myself how much money can ACTUALLY be made online. I have heard a lot of figures, but your monthly report shows it in black and white. I wish I could make even a fraction of what you are making monthly online. That would be so helpful. I know I can learn a lot from you. Thanks Pat.

Thanks for sharing Pat. This resource guide is awesome! I’t amazing how you lay it all out on the table. It’s inspiring!
I’m going to use some of your resource ideas to move along some of my projects.
I finally got my music downloaded on MySpace. If anyone is interested in listening to soundbits, you can go to “jazzwith class” on myspace and listen to hit song, “I’m Loving You” from the album, “Love Songs Explosion”. I’m writing my first e-book on how to do it becasuse it took me a few days to figure it out! I’m throwing in some other music and songwriter’s resources and place links to my websites,and any relative info. Pat you have resource here I’ve never heard of and some you listed I know of-validates another marketer”s opinion of the product.
Thanks again, Mucho!
Enjoy the beautiful day!
Thelma Harcum

Brian

Hi Pat,

I just ran into your web site over the weekend. Your story is inspiring. Thanks for the generous sharing your information which could save us a lot of effort to repeat what you have done. You also inspire me to actively search for ways to building online income. Keep up your good work.

I know you mentioned you have a lot of projects going.
Have you evaluated using Google map with Adsense to make money? I can not find any one like you who details to the public on how (much?) they make money with the Google map. It should be a good topic to explorer.

Nice post..thanks for sharing. I am very eager to start my online career. but I was little confused on where and how to start..anyway all the best for future earnings

http://goodfinance-blog.com Nolan33Joann

It’s perfect that people are able to take the credit loans and this opens up completely new chances.

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